EDMONTON – James Obenauer-Fossett could have an Edmonton Oilers tattoo on his shoulder, but for this playoff run the Habs have his allegiance.
He and other hockey fans across Canada are rallying behind the Montreal Canadiens, the last team standing north of the border within the hunt for the NHL’s Stanley Cup.
Montreal’s second-round series against the Buffalo Sabres begins Wednesday night. In the event that they win all of it, they might be the primary Canadian team to capture the Cup since 1993, when Montreal defeated the Los Angeles Kings in the ultimate.
That may be just effective with Obenauer-Fossett, whose loyalty to the Oilers is dipped in ink — he has a tattoo of Oilers mascot Hunter the Lynx.
“It’s been 30 years for the reason that Cup has been back in Canada, and it could be nice to have it back,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter which Canadian team goes for it. I’ll cheer for any Canadian team.”
The shift hits hard in Edmonton, where the Oilers got here oh so near the Cup within the last two years, only to get dispatched in the primary round this spring by the Anaheim Geese.
“Obviously it hurts right away,” said 22-year-old fan Naseer Hussain in Edmonton.
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He’s normally an Oilers fan but said it’s only fair he gets behind Montreal, like so many Canadians did for the Oilers of their recent back-to-back runs within the Cup final.
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“We would like to bring that Cup home back to Canada, where the Cup began its journey. Because that is where it belongs. It’s essential that we unite.”
In Canada, making the leap from cheering for the hometown team to the Canadiens isn’t, for some, a huge shift in allegiance. NHL rinks across the country are commonly inundated with fans cheering for the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.
Robert Hing has lived in Calgary for 20 years, however the 49-year-old has yet to adopt the hometown Flames as his team.
“I prefer to say I used to be born with the Habs crest on my chest,” said the Canadiens fan. Born in Ontario, he considered Montreal a second home until he was drawn to Calgary by a lady who has maintained her title as a Flames fan.
Hing went to Montreal last week to look at in person because the Habs lost a 1-0 extra time heartbreaker to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of their first-round series.
On Sunday, he hung around the town to look at Montreal put only nine shots on net yet still upset the Lightning to win Game 7.
“The sport didn’t seem like it was going our way, but when (Alex) Newhook scored that (game-winning) goal, you can just feel this eruption. I didn’t sit down after that,” Hing said.
“There’s only about eight minutes left in the sport, everybody watching was just living and dying on each play.
“A lot tension but a lot joy at the top of it.”
Winnipeg can be home to many Canadiens fans who make their presence known. They filled so lots of the seats for a Canadiens-Jets game in Winnipeg in February, Jets coach Scott Arniel said he was dissatisfied at the massive variety of red jerseys within the seats.
In the town’s largely francophone St. Boniface neighbourhood, Habs games make for busy nights on the Pregame Sports Bar and Lounge.
“We get Canadiens fans. We’re in a French community. We get loads of them, but everybody should bet on the Canadiens right away,” owner Tyler Evans said.
The bar is primarily focused on the Jets, Evans said, but Winnipeg didn’t make the playoffs, so the bar has been offering discounts, including $5 drinks, during playoff games involving Canadian teams. The response in the primary round during Oilers, Senators and Canadiens games was strong, Evans said.
The happy-hour pricing runs so long as the games do, and only when a team based in Canada is on the ice. With Edmonton and Ottawa eliminated, that leaves Montreal games.
“If we go to triple extra time, we run that $5 drinks right through,” Evans said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2026.
— With files from Steve Lambert in Winnipeg and Dayne Patterson in Calgary
© 2026 The Canadian Press